The Christians who stole Christmas?

Well maybe not, but then again …

I don’t know about you but at this time of the year I get increasingly grumpy with all the onerous “to do” lists. Things that I have lived with all year suddenly need cleaning. Even the dog has been spruced up this morning so he is fit for an audience with Grandma!

And that doesn’t even begin to touch on the expense. Not just in presents – which I can just about manage to keep to sensible levels – but the food that we don’t really need, the booze that none of us normally drink. On and on it goes.

But the things I do love about this time of year are making phone calls to friends to catch up; spending time, precious, precious time, with my family; and looking on fondly at my clean house and the Christmas tree. The only time, it seems, when everything has been done at once (albeit with those grumblings) and everything comes together.

I have been working a day a week in my old job, just to relieve some of the pressure on Graham, the boss. A lady who has only recently come across my desk seems to be able to say everything I want to say, in particular about Christmas.

I have been a non-believer ever since I can remember. But there are still bits of Christmas we can all enjoy, no matter where we come from, our culture or our beliefs. And it seems, judging by the comments on her article there are plenty of others out there coming from the same place as Chrys and myself.

We published this article from her on Friday. It is brilliant and I highly recommend it:

Reason’s Greetings

By Chrys Stevenson

I always loved our local Carols by Candlelight. A rag-tag rabble of local school kids would straggle onto a rickety stage in a seaside park to sing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Six White Boomers. I delighted in spotting the kid (there was always one) who looked like they’d just beamed in from a galaxy far, far away with no idea why they were dressed in flashing reindeer antlers in the middle of a line of all singing, all dancing 10-year-olds.

Comfortably ensconced in a BYO canvas deck chair, I’d sip brandy-spiked coffee from a thermos as I waited for a lolly-throwing Santa to arrive to hoots, whistles, cheers and thunderous applause. One year, I nearly wet myself laughing when Santa, turbo-charged with Christmas spirit, made a wobbly entrance then pitched head-first into the audience, precisely as if he’d just discovered a convenient chimney.

(Read the rest here)

Merry Christmas to all of you!

Op-shops and chocolate cake

One of the delightful things about being unemployed in the school holidays is I get more chance to “do stuff” with my girls.

My oldest was working today, so my 15-year-old Bohemian-in-Doc Martins and I decided we were going to have an op-shop morning. Because the other thing about being unemployed is that there is not a great deal of spare dosh to fling around. Op-shopping satisfies the shopping gene and the bargain hunting gene: and it is totally unpredictable - you never know what finds you will come home with.

When you are working full time, as I have done for many years, you don’t get much opportunity to “save money” because most op-shops, or at least the ones where the bargains are, only open Saturday mornings: which is the time when you are running around frantically trying to get jobs done in between ferrying children to and fro.

And another advantage to being unemployed and going op-shopping is the hubbie can’t complain too much about a $6 designer shirt!

So at 9am sharp we fronted at our first shop. I have never been there before, even though I am a seasoned op-shopper and it is close to where I live. And boy was it fabulous: I’ll definitely be going back! We both came away with some real treasures, not least a couple of leather handbags in mint condition for $7.50 and $10 respectively.

We visited three shops (sufficient unto the day!) and Annie got three tops, including one stunningly pretty powder blue number which, darn it, I couldn’t squeeze into, and some nice denim 3/4 pants with turned cuffs all for $25.

I bought my older daughter a neat little strapless Esprit dress, in new condition, $6! And I got a couple of tops including a Liz Claiborne shirt - beautiful quality - also only $6.

I think the smaller you are the more successful your op-shopping will be. There just seems to be so much more choice in smaller sizes.

I started frequenting op-shops about a year ago. I lost 56 kilos in nine months and it was the only way I could clothe myself affordably. And I became very good at sniffing out the labels and the quality vintage. I also became good at knowing which were the better op-shops to go to!

Today I bought a 1950s eau de nile green suit reminiscent of Chanel, in Egyptian cotton, so fine that it felt like silk. The skirt was far too small but the jacket was fantastic and will look great with a black skirt and stilettos.

After we had op-shopped the morning away we decided on a whim to head out to Samford Valley for a bite to eat. Annie has aspirations to run her own café/deli and I knew she would just love The Flying Nun in Samford. She loves baking and I wanted her to try the beetroot chocolate cake that they do there. It is moist and fudgy with just a hint of the beetroot taste and a very slightly maroon tinge to the cake. I think it would have to be up there as one of the best chocolate cakes I have had. I asked the owner, Linda Barker, for the recipe and she told me it was available online. I think it must be this one here: http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/10198/chocolate-and-beetroot-cake.aspx. She did say that she used very good quality chocolate to make it with.

I suggested to her that The Flying Nun could publish a book of recipes. I am sure it would sell well to her customers - and I would be happy to compile it for her! J

It is a shame The Flying Nun is so far away from where I live, otherwise I would visit a lot more often. It has the perfect vibe, great food, friendly staff. All good!

Vintage dreaming

Last night I went with three girlfriends and my two daughters to a book signing at The Black Cat book shop in Paddington, Brisbane.

They had invited Charlotte Smith there to talk about a collection of 3,000 vintage dresses and accessories that she inherited from her god-mother Doris Darnell, a Quaker from Pennsylvania in the US. The collection is known as the Darnell Collection.

Charlotte was a completely delightful and charming speaker and had the large audience of (pretty well exclusively) women enthralled at the stories behind some of the clothes. Doris sounded like she was quite a character and it seems she chose wisely when she left her prized collection to the safe-keeping of an equally fascinating and enthusiastic woman. I would have loved to have heard more about Charlotte’s own life story, for example.

Charlotte talked about the serious responsibility of looking after such a collection which details a social history of women for around 250 years. She explained how Doris had left a detailed story of the history of each item, its owner, when the item had been worn (or not in some cases), all meticulously hand written. It is these stories that were used in her two books, Dreaming of Chanel and Dreaming of Dior. Charlotte could have kept on speaking so spell bound did she have her audience.

Charlotte has added to the Darnell Collection in the time she has had it. And in so doing has added to the stories of the women who wore these clothes.

I didn’t hang around afterwards to buy the books, the queues were too long, but they are both definitely on my Christmas list.

After Charlotte there was a small fashion show by the vintage clothing shop, also in Paddington, called Adornments. (My daughters and I have decided we have a date there next week!) I have to say that the clothes that Adornments owner chose to showcase were exquisite. The tailoring, the fabrics, the design and dare I say the sizes! They were enough to make a girl swoon. I am definitely going to get another couple more kilos off so I can get into those mini sized dresses!

My friends and I all commented that we would love to be able to wear clothes like that today if we could but find them. I am sure there is a market for making replicas that would fit today’s larger woman. And although they were obviously vintage clothes from another era, all of the show pieces could have been worn quite happily to a special occasion today.

And the thing I liked best about the evening? The fact that my daughters, 15 and 17, enjoyed it as much as we older girls did.

Thanks Black Cat - a great evening.

Welcome to 'My cup of tea'

This blog is all about the things in which I take pleasure. This ranges from the gentle arts of needlepoint and knitting, the pleasures of a good cuppa, through to the gritty forum of politics and social debate, to telling a good yarn about nothing much in particular - just everyday stuff.

Basically if it is My cup of tea, then I will write about it and share it with you.

I thought a fitting way to commence this blog was with a photo taken in my kitchen of my tea shelf. I love a good brew and this is just a small selection of some of my teas. Probably because of my British heritage I have always enjoyed a robust breakfast brew. And until a couple of years ago I would have the standard splosh of milk in it. Then I went on a diet to lose a great deal of weight (another story for another day) and started to have it black.

My diet was exceptionally strict so I was limited with the black and green teas I was allowed to imbibe (surprisingly if you look closely at the labels of some of the herbal teas in the supermarkets you will find they have all sorts of additives including sugars), but I soon got into a routine of Rooibos for brekkie, usually with a slice of lemon; then I discovered T2’s aromatic Earl Grey, perfect for a mid morning pick me up. Once you have had a decent loose leaf Earl Grey like this one you will never go back to the bags again. And then there was the fragrance of a flowery Chamomile in the early evening (no, no! Not the bags PLEASE!). Truly delish!

When I reached my goal weight I branched out and discovered some other teas which I really enjoy. Among these my favourites are Black Rose, French Earl Grey, both from T2, and one called Stockholm blend which I bought from Queenies, the most divine tea rooms in Brisbane. Stockholm has slight vanilla overtones. All three are black tea varieties, and of course, they need to be drunk black to fully appreciate the nuances of the respective brews.

As an aside here I must give Queenies a plug for the best afternoon teas, morning teas: whatever you fancy. The sarnies are always fresh, fresh, fresh. And the passionfruit sponge? To die for.

I get great pleasure out of making my tea, allowing it to sit and then pouring it into a favourite cup or porcelain mug. I can quite easily see how the Japanese and Chinese tea ceremonies assumed so much importance in their respective cultures. Even the British cottoned on to the pleasure of making and savouring tea with their own afternoon tea rituals.

To me, drinking tea is a simple, gentle, contemplative pleasure in life. There is almost a meditative quality to sipping a really delicious tea, and even in a thoroughly busy day a small ritual like this can give us just the five minutes we need to restore some sanity!

Put the kettle on!

Cross posted from my Woolpack Tapestry blog

Paisley

Craft goes through fashions like anything and at the moment tapestry, or needlepoint as it is more properly known, is not the craft du jour. I think knitting would probably take that crown at the moment (something I also love to do).

Mango and coconut icecream

Mangoes are so plentiful at the moment that you can pick up a case in Queensland from the markets for as little as $10. Perhaps the quality isn't so good, but I recently got some great ones for $12 but they did have to be eaten within a few days. So we made some icecream using an old machine given to me by my mother. I couldn't find a recipe that I liked so I made one up. And very successful it was too, it tasted rather like one of those Weis bars. Here it is:

Mangoes and cream ice cream

• 4 mangoes flesh only (I used quite large Kensington Prides)
• 1 1/3 cup of caster sugar
• 400ml can of coconut cream
• 250ml milk
• 300ml thickened cream

1. Place all ingredients except for cream in a blender jug and whizz until smooth. Stir in cream.
2. Place in an ice cream maker and churn for about 25 minutes. If you like soft serve dispense from then. If you want a scoopable ice cream, using a spatula scoop out and put in the freezer to freeze a bit further.
3. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, freeze the mixture overnight (I stirred several times during the freezing process - I had too much mixture for the ice cream maker so some went in to the freezer separately. You'll need to let it soften before serving.

Definitely My cup of tea!

The future of our universities

An interesting article put out today by Steven Schwartz, Vice Chancellor of Macquarie University, discussing the future of universities. He makes some very interesting points based on Simon Marginson's recent speech at the University of Virgina. You can read it here: http://networkedblogs.com/btyKt.

Girl with a satchel

I have Erica from A girl with a satchel to thank for me finally getting going with my blogs. Unwittingly she galvanised me into action last week when she approached my table in a cafe on Mount Tamborine and asked if she could interview me, my daughter and my step-daughter. We were sitting waiting for my cousin to arrive. She did interview us and this is the result here: http://girlwithasatchel.blogspot.com/2010/12/gwas-meet-greet.html.

So thank you Erica.